Heal Your Gut, Heal Your Body

The digestive system is responsible for breaking down food, absorbing useful compounds, and eliminating the rest.  The Digestive tract is exposed to food, bacteria, virus and other environmental toxins like pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals on a daily basis. Exposure to environmental toxins has increased many folds in the past few decades. It is equally proportionate to the occurrence of chronic diseases.
The liver, together with the GI tract, is responsible for removing toxins in a process called detoxification.  The function of elimination and detoxification involves removing the unusable portions of the food you eat, as well as toxins.  It is essential that both be completely eliminated from your body through urine and stool; otherwise, toxins build up and are stored in your tissues.  Poor dietary habits play a fundamental role in bowel health and regularity.  Lack of adequate fiber and water is the biggest cause of regular constipation.  Lack of physical exercise can also contribute to chronic constipation.  The stool removes many liver-process toxins, so extended bowel transit times allow these toxins to be reabsorbed.
If the GI tract is not functioning well, an additional burden is placed on the liver.  When incoming toxins exceed the liver’s ability to remove them, this is called a toxic burden.  It is important to periodically restore the body’s ability to cleanse itself and eliminate toxins through a process called detoxification.  This is usually accomplished by going through a detoxification program to eliminate common foods that cause sensitivities from your diet, including alcohol, caffeine, gluten and sugar and all processed foods.  Removing these inflammatory foods from the diet can help alleviate the symptoms of brain fog, fatigue, digestive dysfunction headaches and food sensitivities.

The bacteria that live in the gut have a profound effect on the health of the entire body.  This microbiome as its called aids in the production of nutrients, B vitamins and vitamin K, but can also affect someone’s risk for obesity or metabolic conditions.  It is important to keep beneficial bacteria in balance and in plentiful supply to help regulate the digestive system and prevent GI illnesses.  Many factors including stress, poor diet, genetic makeup, and prescription medications including antibiotics and steroids influence the balance of bacteria in the GI tract.  Even harmless bacteria, in the wrong place, can potentially cause illness.
Dysbiosis is any microbial imbalance of the gut microbiome.  When the microbiome is disturbed in any way, the body is susceptible or vulnerable to many GI disorders.  There are several types of dysbiosis, including Candida, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and parasites.  SIBO occurs when bacteria normally found in the large intestine travel up into the small intestine.  From there they grow and inhibit the absorption of nutrients and the result is uncomfortable GI symptoms such as upper GI gas and bloating after a meal.  Bacterial overgrowth is most commonly caused by the use of antibiotics, poor dietary choices, stress, excessive alcohol, acid-suppressing medications, poor digestion, chronic constipation or food allergies.  The solution involves giving your gut healthy organisms and limiting harmful organisms from overgrowing.  The best way to repair bacterial imbalance is great a healthy environment in which the bacteria grows.

The GI tract is one of the body’s largest protective cell layers, acting as a barrier between the internal body and the external world.  It is critical function is to allow nutrients into the body, while stopping harmful substances from passing into the bloodstream.  Increased intestinal permeability affects the GI tract and the immune, nervous and endocrine systems.  There are many causes of increased intestinal permeability including chronic stress, toxin exposure, poor diet and dysbiosis.  The GI tract houses approximately 80% of the immune system in the body.  If this selective barrier function is not well maintained, a number of harmful substances may enter the body, triggering immune-related responses such as celiac disease, food allergies and Crohn’s disease.
Increased intestinal permeability or what is called a leaky gut syndrome, is a condition that occurs when inflammation causes the tight junctions between the cells lining the intestines to widen.  Normally these junctions are very tight, forcing the molecules to pass through the regulated cell membranes of the gut wall.  Patients with leaky gut syndrome have dysfunctional digestive processes because the intestines lose their ability to filter nutrients and other substances.  When this happens, substances enter the bloodstream through these loosened junctions.  These foreign substances can then cause inflammation within the intestines and inhibit digestion and immune function.  When left untreated, the leaky gut syndrome can affect the entire body including the brain, skin, thyroid, liver, immune system, cardiovascular system and overall health.  Healing the gut and repairing the gut lining can ultimately lead to improved health and quality of life.